SANDY, Utah — Omar Cummings drilled a shot past goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the 88th minute to give the Colorado Rapids a 1-1 tie with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Colorado (4-2-5) took advantage after Real Salt Lake’s Robbie Russell picked up his second yellow card in the 82nd minute and was ejected.
Colorado’s Mehdi Ballouchy threaded a neat little pass between RSL’s Nat Borchers and Tony Beltran down the right side, allowing Cummings to blast a tremendous shot off the bottom of the crossbar.
“We didn’t have time to pass it around or anything,” said Cummings, who scored his third goal of the season. “Once he was on the ball, I had some space, and I was just praying that he saw me and passed it to me. And once he did that, the only thing in my mind was, turn and shoot.”
Yura Movsisyan scored in the 79th minute for RSL (3-6-3).
Movsisyan took a pass from Fabian Espindola in the box and dribbled around a defender before beating goalkeeper Matt Pickens.
Colorado is 2-0-4 in its last six games. Real Salt Lake dropped to 0-4-3 in its last seven.
RSL had several good scoring chances early but couldn’t capitalize.
Forward Robbie Findley had two good opportunities in the first half, but headers in the 21st and 30th minutes sailed wide. The bad luck continued for RSL when Espindola’s header in the 63rd minute off a corner kick bounced over the crossbar.
Each team played without two of its regular starters. Colorado midfielder Pablo Mastroeni and forward Conor Casey were away with the U.S. national team during its World Cup qualifier against Honduras in Chicago.
Casey had scored four goals in his last three games and is tied with Kansas City’s Guillermo Barros Schellotto for the league scoring lead with eight.
RSL midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales served one-game suspensions due to yellow card accumulation.
Colorado 0 1 — 1
Real Salt Lake 0 1 — 1
First half — None.
Second half — 1, Real Salt Lake, Movsisyan 2 (Espindola), 79th minute. 2, Colorado, Cummings 3 (Ballouchy), 88th.
Goalies — Colorado, Matt Pickens; Real Salt Lake, Nick Rimando.
Yellow cards — Ballouchy, Colorado, 3rd; Espindola, Real Salt Lake, 22nd; LaBrocca, Colorado, 45th; Russell, Real Salt Lake, 73rd; Ihemelu, Colorado, 76th; Mathis, Real Salt Lake, 87th. Red card — Russell, Real Salt Lake, 82nd.
Referee — Jeff Gontarek. Assistant referees — Greg Barkey. David Bragg. 4th official — Landis Wiley.
A — 19,546 (20,008).
Michael Lewis of The Salt Lake Tribune contributed to this story.
